Tuesday, March 03, 2009

New McCall's Top

I think I must be the world's slowest sewer. It seems to take me forever and a day to put a piece of clothing together. That is because I have sewing ADD. I just cannot seem to work on a sewing project for very long at one time. I end up doing a few minutes here, half an hour there, and eventually... I have a new piece of clothing. I'm this way with my stitching as well, but I don't mind having 20 or more stitching projects in various stages of completion. I'm not able to do that with my sewing. If I did, my clothes would be out of fashion YEARS before I'd ever be able to wear any of them. LOL

I have to say that I love this top, although it turned out a bit large. (That's what I get for following the size guidelines on the pattern. LOL) I'll probably have to take it in just a bit. It looks a bit droopier on Wilma than it does IRL. She's a bit stiff for the flowy fabric, and it's made worse by the fact that she has no arms. Poor girl!

Pattern:McCall’s 5662

Fabric:Lightweight Polyester that I picked up for $2/yd. at Wal-Mart. I have to say that this fabric was much nicer than I ever expected, and it worked great for this pattern.

Pattern Description:Misses’ top/tunic/dress with sleeve & bodice variations. I made View E, a top, which has a gathered, draped middle section and used the kimono sleeve option from View F.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?Yes!

Were the instructions easy to follow?Yes, and no. It’s not a complicated pattern, but there are several different options for sleeves & bodice, so the instructions jump around a lot. I chose View E. The instructions jumped to View B for gathered middle section, followed by View A for the rest of the top construction. If you’re familiar with top construction, you won’t have any trouble, but I think it could be confusing for a beginner.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?I like that it has so many options that can be combined in different ways. My only complaint is that it runs too large. I chose a Large, based on my bust measurement, which turned out to be too big. (I should have read the reviews BEFORE buying the pattern!) I sized it down a bit during construction, but will probably have to go back and take it in a bit more.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:Originally, I planned to do View E exactly as shown on the pattern—gathered/draped middle section and three-quarter length sleeves gathered into cuffs. I wasn’t absolutely sure that I’d like this in the finished top, so I waited until everything else was done before finishing the sleeves. I’m glad I did! After doing the first one and trying on the top, I realized that it was just “too much look” for me. I’ve seen it done this way on other people, and thought it looked great… on them. Not so great on me, though. Instead, I simply hemmed the sleeves as shown in the kimono sleeve option (View F).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?Yes, would absolutely sew this pattern again, but a different view. I would recommend it to others, although I think the pattern may be a bit confusing for beginners.